Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in vehicle wheel thefts. While traditional vehicle alarm systems are typically capable of sensing some forms of wheel assembly tampering (e.g., through the use of an inclination sensor that detects large-scale changes in the orientation of the vehicle), and most modern vehicles include tire pressure monitoring (TPM) sensors that sense, after the fact, that one or more tires have lost inflation, currently known vehicles provide very little protection against the theft and tampering of wheel assemblies. Furthermore, inclination sensors may, in many circumstances, produce false-positive alarms.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved systems and methods for detecting wheel assembly tampering in automotive vehicles. Additional desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.